Read Online Faces by E.C. Blake - Free Book Online Page A

“I’m not stopping you,” and didn’t regret it.
    The prince nodded. He glanced over his shoulder, and Mara glimpsed the young lieutenant she had seen with him and the captains earlier. “Wait outside, Antril,” he said. The young man, dark-haired and dark-eyed, nodded and moved out of her view.
    â€œA guard?” Mara said. “Do you fear me now, Chell?”
    The prince entered, letting the tent flap close behind him. “No,” he said. “But I’d like some warning before the Lady or one of her wolves arrive.
Her
, I fear.” He looked around the tent’s warm interior. His gaze followed the smoke of the fire for a moment as it poured up to and through the hole in the roof. “It’s very pleasant in here.” He lowered his eyes to her face, and smiled. “How have you been? I haven’t spoken to you since we began this mad trek.”
    Every word he spoke scraped against Mara’s nerves like a whetstone on a dagger blade, sharpening her response. “Mad trek?” she said. “To the one place where I might learn how to live with the magic that has almost destroyed me?” She glared at him. “And why
should
I have spoken to you? You made it clear enough on the beach that you only aided my escape from Tamita because you want to use me in your far-off war.”
    Chell shook his head. “No, Mara. Yes, I have my mission—but I would have aided you regardless. I care about you.”
    His words washed over her like water over stone, leaving no impression behind. “And what do you want now?”
    â€œI told you . . . to see how you’ve been.”
    Mara stared at him. “And . . . ?”
    â€œAnd to ask your help.”
    I knew it,
Mara thought. “Let me guess. You want me to talk to the Lady for you, try to convince her to help you return to your kingdom, promise to help you in your war. Am I right?”
    â€œYes,” he said simply. “Mara, I’ve told you how deadly the threat is facing Korellia. Magic may offer our only hope of survival. And the Lady—”
    â€œThe Lady will not help you until the Autarch is overthrown,” Mara said. “And it will still be her choice whether or not to help you once that is done. There’s nothing I can say that will change her mind.” She kept her eyes locked on Chell’s. “Nor will I try.”
    Chell stared at her another long moment. When he spoke, he sounded sad.
He should be on the stage
, she thought savagely. “I see,” he said. He inclined his head formally. “Then I will leave you to your comforts.” But he studied her a moment longer. “There was a time,” he said, “when you were frightened of becoming like the Lady of Pain and Fire. Has that changed?”
    Whiteblaze growled at him. Chell’s eyes slipped to the wolf’s for a moment, then back to Mara’s; then he turned, cloak swirling, and swept back out through the tent flap in another blast of cold air. “With me, Antril,” she heard him say, followed by their footsteps crunching away through the snow.
    Mara stared at the sparks dancing up through the smoke hole in the wake of that wintry gust. Chell had clearly meant to hurt her with that last comment, but to her surprise—and fierce delight—she found it had not hurt her in the slightest.
    Because
, she thought,
I know the truth at last.
    The Lady is my future—but she’s not a monster.
    And neither am I.
    When the Lady herself entered the tent a short time later, six of her wolves flowing around her feet, Mara stood and faced her. The Lady stopped. “You look like you have something to say to me.”
    â€œI want to learn what you can teach me,” Mara said, through a throat almost closed with emotion, so that every word came out both soft and intense. “I want to know how to use my Gift. And I want to join you in destroying